Directors of online sperm donor business face criminal prosecution
Last Friday, UK authorities began a legal test case to prosecute two businessmen who were arrested for not having a valid licence to broker the sale of 'fresh' sperm from anonymous donors. The sperm was provided to women for their use in DIY fertility treatments through an online business - Spermdirect.co.uk. Nigel Woodforth and Ricky Gage, the directors of the business, face up to two years imprisonment if found guilty of illegally running a website that is reportedly believed to have matche...
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Egg donation: why I gave up my right to remain anonymous
by Laura Spoelstra
Following a change in the law that came into force on 1 April 2005, British people conceived using donated egg, sperm or embryos can ask for identifying information about the donor when they reach the age of 18. Here Laura Witjens, egg donor and mother of two, writes about why she elected to remove her anonymity and potentially become identifiable to any children born from her donation....
Banking Crisis - what should be done about the sperm donor shortage?
by Laurence Shaw
There is a current shortage of donor sperm in the UK. Recruitment of donors has always required marketing. Traditionally, students provided donor sperm for 'beer money'. Thirty years has seen little change in the remuneration. It is now referred to as 'travelling' costs. This is compatible with other forms of tissue donation, for which monetary remuneration is deemed illegal. The acute current shortage coincides with a change in the rules of anonymity such that donor-conceived children at 18 ...